A right way — and a wrong way
Governor Kevin Stitt and Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister.
Yesterday, the Tulsa World broke the news that a second whistleblower has come forward to allege wrongdoing at Oklahoma’s Commission of the Land Office (a.k.a., the CLO).
It’s interesting to compare the approach to this news by the two 2022 gubernatorial candidates, Governor Kevin Stitt and Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister. Governor Stitt requested the State Auditor and Inspector’s office perform a “financial and operational” audit of the CLO. Superintendent Hofmeister requested a “law enforcement investigation.”
Stitt asked for an audit. Isn’t that good enough?
Well… No.
A “financial and operational” audit is just one kind of audit that can be performed by the State Auditor and Inspector’s (SAI) office. It’s the most basic kind of audit that the SAI provides. Basically it’s a routine audit that is a quick checkpoint to make sure an agency is following basic accounting rules. It requires cooperation by agency employees and just looks at a small sampling of financial transactions. What’s most important is that it’s NOT an audit that is intended to uncover errors or fraud. In fact, these SAI audit reports include language that says something along these lines:
”Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, combined with the inherent limitations of internal control, errors or fraud may occur and not be detected.”
source: Operational Audit of the Administrative Office of the Courts
The SAI can also perform “Performance” audits and “Special Investigative” audits. Performance audits are used to review internal processes to make recommendations about how an agency might do things more efficiently. Special Investigative audits are used to look for potentially criminal activity. In fact, when the Governor requested an audit of Epic Charter Schools, he specifically requested a Special Investigative audit. This was in response to the ongoing OSBI investigation of Epic. So, Governor Stitt clearly knows the difference… but he CHOSE to request an audit that DOES NOT look for errors or fraud.
So what did Hofmeister request?
Superintendent Hofmeister called for a law enforcement investigation. As noted previously, the Superintendent’s authority is generally very limited. But one of the things she CAN do is request that law enforcement investigate. So that’s what she did. She asked Oklahoma County District Attorney (OKDA) David Prater to lead a law enforcement investigation. Why the OKDA and not the current Attorney General, John O’Connor? This is just speculation, but my guess is because General O’Connor was appointed by Governor Stitt and has shown little interest in these kinds of investigations.
More info:
The Governor appoints the Secretary of the Land Office. (O.S. 64, Chapter 11, Section 1005) Unlike most gubernatorial appointments which have advice and consent from the Senate, the Secretary of the Land Office appointment is made with the advice and consent of the Commissioners of the Land Office itself.
Governor Stitt in his 3 1/2 years has appointed two persons as Secretary. His first appointee, Brandt Vawter, did not meet the qualifications to serve as Secretary and also owned a company that was involved in a legal dispute with the CLO.
Governor Stitt’s second appointee as Secretary of the Land Office is the current Secretary, Elliot Chambers. He also had a legal dispute with the CLO and was accused of shorting payment to the CLO from his now bankrupt company, White Star Petroleum Holdings. At least he fit the other qualifications.
About the CLO:
For those who don’t know about the Commissioners of the Land Office, the CLO is the agency that serves as the trust holder of the land and assets Oklahoma received from the federal government. The Organic Act of 1890 and the Oklahoma Statehood Enabling Act of 1906 provided these lands to be held in perpetuity for the people. Both acts required the state to use these assets to support public education. In response, Oklahoma has an entire article of its Constitution, Article 11, to document how these assets must be held and how the proceeds must be used in support of public education.
